ZRod Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 The problem is too many people in this country are incapable of thinking long term, or having a plan for 'what if.' We have as a nation fallen too far under the mindset of business men and thinking on a now, or quarterly basis. Vision and planning for the future is what we need. The politicians never think past the next election cycle. Give me some engineers to run this country instead of lawyers and businessmen. We tried that, it lasted one term... and the next guy tore down the solar panels on the White House that he put up. Link to comment
strigori Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 The problem is too many people in this country are incapable of thinking long term, or having a plan for 'what if.' We have as a nation fallen too far under the mindset of business men and thinking on a now, or quarterly basis. Vision and planning for the future is what we need. The politicians never think past the next election cycle. Give me some engineers to run this country instead of lawyers and businessmen. We tried that, it lasted one term... and the next guy tore down the solar panels on the White House that he put up. We have not had anyone who would classify as an engineer in the white house since Jefferson. Its all been lawyers or businessmen, with the occasional war hero. Link to comment
strigori Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Hey, I'll take engineers over lawyers and lifelong beaurocrats any day. I never claimed we don't have some long term issues that need to be addressed. The problem is we have a fairly unhealthy list of short term problems as well. Our government has failed at addressing those. Being realistic, the more immediate problems need to be handled first. I have no faith in either side or either candidate handling any of our problems. We need to get this economy moving now. We probably disagree on if big public works programs are the way to accomplish that. The government does not create jobs. The best they can do is redistribute jobs from one area to another. Any time I hear a politician say "we created x amount of jobs", I want to puke. I guess we agree on one thing. There are many challenges facing our country. I don't think our current state of government is anywhere near up to the challenge. The infrastructure issue goes past jobs. We need the foundations of this country to be among the best if we want to be the best. I honestly don't think we can solve the short term issues with the long term ones being as large as they are. I will agree with you that neither party right now is remotely competent in solving them. The core of this election is one thing and one thing only. Who do you think actually creates jobs. The Koch's and Walden's or the consumer. Romney is so focused on trickle down/supply side economics and doesn't give a rip about the people the economy actually needs to be spending money to grow. Millionaires and billionaires buying stock does not spur job creation. Regular Joe going out to dinner, buying a new car or fixing up his house is what does it. If I remember correctly, you work with a small/middle sized business. What would spur you guys to hire more workers? Some guy investing money and expecting a quick return, or more customers coming to buy things from you? Link to comment
ZRod Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 The problem is too many people in this country are incapable of thinking long term, or having a plan for 'what if.' We have as a nation fallen too far under the mindset of business men and thinking on a now, or quarterly basis. Vision and planning for the future is what we need. The politicians never think past the next election cycle. Give me some engineers to run this country instead of lawyers and businessmen. We tried that, it lasted one term... and the next guy tore down the solar panels on the White House that he put up. We have not had anyone who would classify as an engineer in the white house since Jefferson. Its all been lawyers or businessmen, with the occasional war hero. You probably wouldn't "classify" Carter as an engineer but he had an extensive background in nuclear energy when he was in the Navy and probably had to know some serious science for that. Link to comment
strigori Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 The problem is too many people in this country are incapable of thinking long term, or having a plan for 'what if.' We have as a nation fallen too far under the mindset of business men and thinking on a now, or quarterly basis. Vision and planning for the future is what we need. The politicians never think past the next election cycle. Give me some engineers to run this country instead of lawyers and businessmen. We tried that, it lasted one term... and the next guy tore down the solar panels on the White House that he put up. We have not had anyone who would classify as an engineer in the white house since Jefferson. Its all been lawyers or businessmen, with the occasional war hero. You probably wouldn't "classify" Carter as an engineer but he had an extensive background in nuclear energy when he was in the Navy and probably had to know some serious science for that. Science sure. But engineers think a bit differently. It tends to be more long term, and not how to cook the books to get the biggest short term reward that many businessmen and lawyers focus on. The engineers I know prefer to solve things once, and will take the pain/cost upfront so they are not reworking the project again soon. They can't operate in the short term mindset, people can end up dead if they botch some projects by trying to do it on the cheap. Link to comment
ZRod Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Those aren't engineer qualities alone, those are the qualities of many different scientific fields and the military as well, even a sound businessman would have those qualities. I think we're arguing apples and apples here. Carter is probably the closest this country well ever have to anyone with the title Engineer and it could be argued that he was one of the more forward thinking presidents we've had, he was looking at energy issues in the 70's that we are still dealing with today. Link to comment
HSKR Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Those aren't engineer qualities alone, those are the qualities of many different scientific fields and the military as well, even a sound businessman would have those qualities. I think we're arguing apples and apples here. Carter is probably the closest this country well ever have to anyone with the title Engineer and it could be argued that he was one of the more forward thinking presidents we've had, he was looking at energy issues in the 70's that we are still dealing with today. Never thought I would see those two things in the same sentence. 1 Link to comment
ZRod Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Not on every issue but he did have some good ideas for the future. Link to comment
Comish Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Not on every issue but he did have some good ideas for the future. Would have made a good engineer; actuary; scientist; stand-in for Henry Fonda; Sheriff of Mayberry; Playboy proofreader; or peanut farmer. Prez..?? Not so much...... Link to comment
tschu Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Obama is going to win in a near landslide. Romney's campaign is seriously stalling and I don't know if Ryan is going to help. Link to comment
bhamHusker Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Have to. The fact is, this country isn't right. If there's anyone, from any party that can fix this thing, we have to get behind them. I don't believe that our system of government is capable of fixing the problems we have. Neither party has, or will have, the solution, and if by some miracle one or the other of them managed to come up with any kind of genuine, workable solution, it would buried under an avalanche of partisan squabbling. I'm convinced that one party's vision will hasten our demise, while the other will only delay it a bit longer. Either way, we're f'ed with our current system. Link to comment
JJ Husker Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Have to. The fact is, this country isn't right. If there's anyone, from any party that can fix this thing, we have to get behind them. I don't believe that our system of government is capable of fixing the problems we have. Neither party has, or will have, the solution, and if by some miracle one or the other of them managed to come up with any kind of genuine, workable solution, it would buried under an avalanche of partisan squabbling. I'm convinced that one party's vision will hasten our demise, while the other will only delay it a bit longer. Either way, we're f'ed with our current system. I'm going to have to agree with you on this one. Our system doesn't work anymore. Could it work again? Sure, but a whole lot would have to change. Will it? Very doubtful. Link to comment
strigori Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 Have to. The fact is, this country isn't right. If there's anyone, from any party that can fix this thing, we have to get behind them. I don't believe that our system of government is capable of fixing the problems we have. Neither party has, or will have, the solution, and if by some miracle one or the other of them managed to come up with any kind of genuine, workable solution, it would buried under an avalanche of partisan squabbling. I'm convinced that one party's vision will hasten our demise, while the other will only delay it a bit longer. Either way, we're f'ed with our current system. I'm going to have to agree with you on this one. Our system doesn't work anymore. Could it work again? Sure, but a whole lot would have to change. Will it? Very doubtful. And what system are you proposing? Right now we would be on track to return to the Feudal System. Link to comment
Recommended Posts